Alien: Critic Reviews

These things no longer surprise or tantalize us as they once did. In a very short time, science-fiction films have developed their own jargon that's now become a part of the grammar.

Superbly paced, imaginatively designed, consistently suspenseful and never attracts an unintentional laugh.

What's most unusual about the original 24 years later, though, is its elegant minimalism.

A genuine fright classic.

Ridley Scott's 1979 movie is a great original.

It's a scream from another era that still echoes around us.

An empty-headed horror movie with nothing to recommend it beyond the disco-inspired art direction and some handsome, if gimmicky, cinematography.

An old-fashioned scary movie set in a highly realistic sci-fi future, made all the more believable by expert technical craftmanship.

Besides Weaver and Skeritt, the top-notch ensemble includes two of Britain's best actors -- Ian Holm, as the untrustworthy science officer, and John Hurt.

A haunted-house movie set in space, Alien also has a profoundly existentialist undertow that makes it feel like a film noir -- the other genre to feature a slithery, sexualized monster as its classic villain.

The scariest movie in history is actually a bit shy.

Alien looks amazing, almost like a new film.

It is depressing to watch an expensive, crafty movie that never soars beyond its cold desire to score the big bucks.

My favorite film of all time is one of the finest blu-rays in my collection.

The monster itself is still one of the flat-out scariest ever designed for the movies.

Ridley Scott's Alien is nothing short of a masterpiece. Technically brilliant, tense, horrifying and visually breathtaking, there's not a moment in this B-monster movie that doesn't excel well beyond the usual genre trappings.

Dated, but still scary. Not for younger kids.

Science fiction horror doesn't get any better than this.

It's a chilling, slow-paced, space horror movie using the same formula as the B-films of the 1950s.

Alien proved that material derided as B-movie fodder could be handled with finesse and glossy production values, without diminishing the thrills or polishing over the hard-edged horror.

Better than most of today's big budget sci-fi/horror films.

It certainly doesn't look like a 24-year-old movie.

The limited strengths of its staple sci-fi horrors always derived from either the offhand organic/ Freudian resonances of its design or the purely (brilliantly) manipulative editing and pacing of its above-average shock quota.

There's nothing terribly complex or original about the movie, but it is distinguished by its clever and innovative use of B-movie staples in a hi-tech setting.

This scary feature breathed new life into the horror genre, launching a length film franchise and introducing to audiences a major actress, Sigourney Weaver, in a tough role typically allotted to men.